Pocket-sized Sony HDR-TG1 Camcorder

WORLD’S SMALLEST FULL HD CAMCORDER FROM SONY

Nowadays, HD camcorder is a buzz word. And if the handycam is from Sony it appeals more to us. Yes, I am talking about diminutive and compact Sony HDR-TG1 camcorder, which records video in full HD resolution (in 1080i video mode). This high-definition capability influences the choice of vacationers, who don’t want to “travel heavy.” Another advantage for any traveler is the hanycam’s durable titanium body, which makes it highly resistant to scratches.

The hanycam is embedded with advanced video and audio technologies with simple and intuitive operations. Sony HDR-TG1 is equipped with a high-quality Carl Zeiss10x optical zoom lens and 2-megapixel CMOS sensor, engineered to minimize picture noise. Audio signals are captured in Dolby Digital 5.1-channel surround sound. And the in-built zoom microphone feature senses signal for clear recordings along with the video.

 

Hitachi DZ-HS503 DVD / HDD camcorder

Hitachi has come out with another addition after the Hitach DZ-HS303 and DZ-HS301 versions of their HDD camcorders. The Hitach DZ-HS503 camcorder will come with a 30 GB hard disk and provision for recording on to 8 centimeter DVDs. These will obviously include DVD-RAMs to DVD-RW.
The other specifications of the DZ-HS503 camcorder is the 2.8 megapixel CCD, 10x optical zoom, and a 2.7 inch TFT LCD screen. There is a provision for an extra SD card slot if you want to store medium quality photos.
The Hitachi DZ-HS503 DVD / HDD camcorder will cost close to $1,100 which is a bit over priced but worth it in our opinions.

Sanyo Xacti HD1000

Today Sanyo announced the Xacti HD1000 with a 1920 x 1080 resolution. This is probably the smallest and the lightest full HD digital camcorder out there. The camcorder can write to SDHC memory to a 8GB memory card.
The camcorder comes with a 10x optical zoom, 2.7 inch widescreen LCD display, and HDMI output. The weight of the HD1000 is close to 9.5 ounces.
The Xacti HD1000 costs around $800 and will be available for shipping in september.

JVC GR-DA20 Camcorder - With Sliding LCD

VC's newest digital camcoder comes with a beautiful LCD sdcreen which can be moved and adjusted while recording or to record from different angles. The GR-DS20 camcorder comes with a 1/6 inch 800K CCD sensor, 34x optical zoom, a 3D noise filtering facility and 16:9 widescreen capture mode.
The LCD screen is a 2.4 inch screen which can be moved to different angles to capture better shots. There is also a Nightscope function in the camcorder which enables low-light recording too. No idea as to when this will be available or even for that matter the ever so important question - PRICE!

Hitachi BD70E and BD7HE Bluray Camcorders

The Hitachi BD70E and BD7HE are the latest Blu-ray camcorders announced by Hitachi. The Blu-ray camcorders feature a 5.3 megapixel CMOS sensor with 1920 x 1080 Full HD recording capabilties. The recorded bit will be done on 8cm blu-ray discs which are pretty costly to say the least. Normal DVD discs can also be used if you dont want to use Blu-ray media.
The camcorders record media in MPEG-4/H.264 compression type. In standard quality mode 2 hours can be recorded on the BD70E while 8 hours can be done on the BD7HE.

JVC GR-DA30US

The JVC GR-DA30US has just been launched and that too for a great price i must add. The JVC GR-DA30US will cost you only $200 and it starts shipping around october/november. This camcorder will be available on Amazon.com then. But if you are too excited to get this fast, then head over to BestBuy.com as they say its available for immediate shipping.

The JVC GR-DA30US also comes with a 30x optical zoom with a 680K, 1/6 inch CCD  and 340K effective pixels. This is an update to the JVC GR-DA20 Camcorder - With Sliding LCD.

BenQ DC-T800 Digital Camera

BenQ has just announced the successor to their DC-T700 digital camera which it launched at the start of the year. The DC-T800 comes with a 8 megapixel ccd and is thinner than the T700.

The DC-T800 has a 3 inch touch screen and a super-shake free feature, which will give you much better photos than before. It features other stuff like Face Tracking, Photo editing, and you can also take good videos with it.

The camera can record videos at 30 frames per second with 640 x 480 pixels MPEG-4 quality. The camera will soon be released probably expected in the start of October.

Sony Cybershot DSC-T2

The Sony Cybershot DSC-T2 is a nice and compact camera which comes with in-built flash memory of size 4GB. This is pretty decent as you can store about 1000 pictures of 4 megapixel resolution and about 500 with the top quality of 8 megapixel - on it quite easily. The Sony Cybershot DSC-T2 comes with a 8 MP lens and a 1/2.5 inch CCD.

The Camera has a touch panel which measures about 2.7 inches and has a 230k pixel resolution. A 3x Carl Zeiss lens to top it off is great. This camera will be available in the holiday season for around $400 .... so start saving now!

Nikon comes out with Coolpix S550 CoolPix S210 and S520

Nikon has rolled out another set of low end to medium range digital camera. To start with the Nikon Coolpix S550 comes with a 10 megapixels CCD with 5x opitcal zoom and an  electronic stabilization. The camera has a 2.5-inch LCD and is due to come out in February  for an estimated price of $229

The other two are the 8 megapixel CCD ones, namely the S520  and the S210. The S520 will be released in march for about $229 and the S210 will be available for $179 which is a good price for a 8 megapixels camera.

The Nikon cameras nowadays come with a 2.5 inch LCD so that is standard for all.

JVC Everio GZ-HD5 and EVerio GZ-HD6 HD

VC always do the right things in terms of experience and add-ons, but they don't always get the price right. This week they have decided to rolls out a few more high definition digital cameras the Everio GZ-HD5 and the GZ-HD6. Both these are available in black as well as silver color. Although i doubt whether the hardcore HD Camcorder freaks care too much about what color they are getting as long as it can handle 1080i easily.

The Camcorders can capture good video at 1920 x 1080 resolution having the latest Genessa tech chips. It comes with appropriate HDMI component, iLink and mini- USB connections.


The GZ-HD5 comes with a 60GB hardisk, while the GZ-HD6 comes with a huge huge huge - 120 gig harddrive! I think thats enough to store a lot of footage!

Also, as usual... they have kept us guessing when it comes to the main question --- Price?!

Kodak EasyShare Z1012 IS

The Kodak Easyshare Z1012 is going to be the next flagholder for the Kodak special and high end cameras. The camera comes with a 10 megapixel resolution with a 12 x optical zoom.
Have a look at this beauty of a camera -

Sanyo Xacti CG9 - Camcorder

Sanyo has really upped the tempo in the camcorder market, they are definitely one of the most exciting ones out there and they certainly don't flatter to deceive. The all new spanking new version of the Xacticamcorder has been released and this time it is with a 9 Megpixel CMOS.

The Xacti CG9 comes with a "face chasing" technology which is what most manufacturers are eying in the coming years. The Xacti CG9 has a negligible 40 mb internal memory with a 5x optical zoom. The video codec used is H.264, and the video is recorded in VGA quality at 60 frames per second (top fps).

This cam focuses more on stills and less for HD recording as it looks. With the CMOS we think it will do a better job than the normal CCD technology. CMOS sensors do deliver higher MTF (colloquially referred to as sharpness) at High Defination data rates than CCDs do.

Pricing on this one, not known yet.... will update this space for you camcorder freaks!

Casio announces EX-Z300 - EXZ250 and EZ-Z85 cameras

The Casio Exilim range of cameras has been expanded by the company in order to obtain a larger market share in the digital camera market. The Casio EX-Z300 is our favorite one amongst the three cameras.

The Casio Exilim EZ-Z300 is a 10.1 megapixel camera with 4x Zoom and about 40MB of internal memory. The camera comes with a neat 3inch LCD display which guides you in taking good photos with high quality.

The Casio Exilim EZ-Z250 has a 9.1 megapixel camera with almost the same features mentioned above in the Z300.

Both these cameras run on the Exilim Engine 3.0 which offers high noise reduction, good quality images. Face detection to an extent and shake reduction as well.  The Z300 and the Z250 both have movie modes which can record video with H.264 codec which is same as MP4 and can be played on your iPods or Zunes.

The Casio EZ-Z85 is also a 9.1 megapixel camera with similar features except the 2.6 LCD screen instead of the 3inch screen.

The EZ-Z300 will cost you around $300, EZ-Z250 around $250 and the best bet for value money buy is the EZ-Z85 for less than $180.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS7

Photo by Jens Mortensen

$400  •  panasonic.com

7 out of 10

 

Panasonic's GPS-Enabled Snapper Is a Fantastic Urban Tour Guide

The GPS-enabled Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS7 is a great camera to bring with you on the road. No it won't lead you to safety if you're lost in the Himalayas — it might not even get you home from a trip the mall — but it will geotag your shots so you can digitally place them on a map in programs such as Apple's iPhoto 09 or Aperture 3.
Not only does the Panasonic ZS7's GPS embed latitude and longitude coordinates into your photos, it will display the image's city, state and country details right on the 3-inch LCD along with nearby points of interest from a library of more than 500,000 landmarks. We took this pocket-friendly camera on a five-borough photo tour of New York City and were jazzed by what it found, including an art gallery we weren't even aware of in one of our neighborhood shots in upper Manhattan. Red Stripe–sipping, moped-touting hipsters aren't this "in-the-know."
But the 12.1-MP ZS7 sometimes felt a step behind what we were shooting, carrying over info and coordinates from a previous photo op. For instance, even though we were practically standing on top of the massive George Washington Bridge, the camera insisted we were still at the art gallery which was a mile behind us. Later, when we took some night shots of the East River from Queens, the ZS7 said we were at a park in the middle of Brooklyn we had passed half an hour before. D'oh!
Despite its occasionally absent-minded site-seeing skills, the ZS7 had the best image quality of all the GPS cameras we tested. Photos we shot in Staten Island of Fort Wadsworth at sunset were beautiful, with sharp detail and bold but natural-looking color. It was also the fastest to use overall, with blazing autofocus speed and no shutter lag.
WIRED Embeds location details in HD videos too. Landmarks library spans 73 countries. Long 300-shot battery life prevents GPS drain.
TIRED Occasionally misidentified landmarks. Make sure camera resets GPS coordinates, or you'll get info from your last trip. Have to dig through menus to turn GPS on.

• Style: GPS-Enabled
• Manufacturer: Panasonic
• Price: $400

Nikon Launches Three New Cameras

Along with the unique projector-camera, Nikon has announced three new compact digital cameras in its Coolpix Style Series - S70, S640, S540

The Cameras
The Nikon Coolpix cameras incorporate Nikon's Nikkor lenses as well as Nikon's EXPEED digital image processing concept. A new enhancement to Nikon's Smart Portrait System includes an all-new Skin Softening feature designed to both smooth and even skin tones.

Other Coolpix features include Vibration Reduction (VR) Image Stabilization, minimizing blur that may appear in pictures, even in low-light or unsteady conditions; and Scene Auto Selector, which automatically recognizes the shooting situation and adjusts camera settings accordingly.


Cool S70

Coolpix S70 features Nikon's newly developed 3.5-inch Clear Color Display and a new generation of touch-screen controls. The camera is capable to capture HD video at 1280 x 720 pixels (720p). It comes with a 12.1 megapixels sensor, a 5x wide-angle Zoom-NIKKOR lens, and ISO settings up to 6400.

Nikon says, using the Touch Shutter feature, users can have a completely "button-free" experience and focus on and photograph a subject by simply touching it on the camera's display.




With the swipe of a finger, users can scroll through images and use a pinching motion with two fingers to zoom in or out on displayed images, switching between thumbnail and full screen views. Additional new touch-screen controls include on-screen sliders for adjusting brightness and Scene Effect Adjustment, which offers controls specific to the scene mode in use.

The S70 will be available in September 2009 for $399.95 (Rs. 19,000) in a choice of colors and textures including Red & Red, Champagne & Beige, Black & Black, or Champagne & Light Brown.
Coolpix S640

This camera features includes ultra-fast auto-focus of a 0.7 seconds and short shutter release time lag.

The S640 features a 12.2 megapixels, a 5x wide-angle NIKKOR lens, ISO from 100-6400 at full resolution; a 2.7-inch Clear Color LCD Display; 4-way VR Image Stabilization System; Subject Tracking; Scene Auto Selector Mode; Nikon's Smart Portrait System and movie mode.



The COOLPIX S640 will be available in September 2009 for $249.95 (Rs. 11,800).
Coolpix S570

The S570 features 12.0 megapixels, a 5x wide-angle Zoom-NIKKOR glass lens; ISO 3200 at full resolution; a bright 2.7-inch LCD Display; 4-way VR Image Stabilization System; Scene Auto Selector Mode; Nikon's Smart Portrait System and movie mode.




The COOLPIX S570 will be available in September 2009, for $199.95 (Rs. 9,500).

There's no word on the availability of these cameras in India yet.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS42

If you're looking for a budget camera, it can get rather confusing with the sheer number of options out there. Problem is, most cheap cameras come with the drawbacks of any cheap product - i.e. cheap quality. You usually end up sacrificing on performance in certain areas for others; so it can get rather tedious to weigh out each and every option in order to figure out what suits your needs the most. If you're looking for an all-rounder though, we might have found you a match.




Build Quality

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS42 is a sleek looking camera that weighs a mere 132-grams, and measures just 98 x 55 x 22 mm. It's small enough to make it fit in your pocket comfortably, but at the same time, big enough so that it can be gripped comfortably while taking shots. The body's made up of matte finish plastic parts, with a nice balance between gray and black parts. Apart from Black, the camera's also available in Silver and Pink.





Button placement's good too, with the power toggle switch and shutter button on top, which has the zoom toggle ring circled around it. The facing side of the camera has a preview/shooting mode toggle, along with a handful of the basic buttons, all of which have a low profile that enhances portability, and ensures that they don't get pressed accidentally. At 2.5", the camera's LCD screen's slightly smaller than most others (that have 2.7" or 3" screens), but its pixel count is standard at 230,000, so it gave us nothing to complain about.

Where both aesthetics and sturdiness are concerned, the FS42 doesn't falter one bit. Other than a slightly light weight, the camera doesn't feel look or feel the way you'd expect a camera that doesn't dent your pocket, to appear.

EASYSHARE Z980 Digital Camera

Turn photography on its side.
Vertical shutter release and detachable vertical grip
24X SCHNEIDER-KREUZNACH VARIOGON Optical Zoom Lens
Amazing quality prints with 12 MP
26 mm wide-angle lens
Smart Capture feature
Fast click-to-capture speed (<0.2 sec.)
Hot shoe and optional KODAK EASYSHARE P20 Zoom Flash
3.0 in (7.6 cm) LCD





f only camera manufacturers
focused as much on quality, as they did with cramping up spec sheets with as many useless features as possible, life would be so much better for everyone. Kodak's gone down a similar path with the feature-rich Easyshare Z980




The camera's dimensions are 91 x 124 x 105 mm and it weights 445 grams, making it of average weight and size. The weight isn't evenly distributed though, and the side where the batteries go feels heavier, making it a little uncomfortable to hold while taking shots.



Button placement's gone the old Kodak way, which works for those who've been using Kodak's superzooms for a while. I'm not too fond of how they've cramped up the self-timer, macro mode, flash and shutter buttons on top, along side the orientation and power toggle, and mode dial, on the top side of the camera. It feels really cramped up and counter-intuitive, considering most cameras use the selection d-pad to double up as a few of the shortcut keys, unlike the Z980. Also, the buttons feel really flimsy, like they're made of cheap plastic, especially the shutter buttons (yes, there are two of them) which feel like shoddy pieces of silver plastic wedged into the body of the camera. The area around the shutter buttons are flat, making them cheaper.



The over-all build of the camera - other than the buttons, that is - is pretty decent. The body's made of hard black plastic which feels easy on the fingers. The grip of the camera though, is made of smooth rubber as opposed to textured rubber, which is a far better option. The smooth rubber doesn't lend your hand too much grip, making the camera a lot more slippery than others out there.

The camera allows you to fix an external flash on it, and features a vertical grip attachment for those who wish to take vertically oriented shots. It even has a shutter button on the side of the camera. All you have to do is screw the cheap looking plastic on the bottom of the camera, and you have yourself a terribly uncomfortable vertical hand-grip that you'll probably never want to use again. Another useless feature cramped in just to make the spec sheets look good.